Half of Canadian Catholics believe church modernization should be top papal priority

Newly elected Pope Francis appears on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica on March 13 in Vatican City. Photo by
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Pope Francis may be the first pontiff from the New World, but he’s perceived as strictly old school when it comes to Catholicism’s teachings on such issues as abortion, same-sex marriage and contraception. And judging by popular opinion, that could leave the 76-year-old Argentine at odds with many Canadians as he assumes his new role as spiritual head of the Church.

According to an exclusive new poll for Postmedia News and Global Television, four in 10 Canadians and half of Catholics (41 and 49 per cent, respectively) believe modernizing the church and its dogma should be a top papal priority. In fact, people in this country considered such an update to be more important than all other issues, including the resolution of any sex scandals within the church.

Three-quarters of Canadian Catholics agree that women should be allowed to be ordained as priests. And fully 81 per cent believe priests should be allowed to marry.

“It reflects a westernized view,” said John Wright, senior vice-president of pollster Ipsos Reid “But we have to realize that this is a pope for 1.2 billion people, and that he’s balancing many, many issues around the world.”

Just one in five Canadians (21 per cent overall, 19 per cent Catholics) thought dealing with allegations of sexual abuse should be the pope’s primary focus. At the same time, however, only one-quarter of Canadians – including three in 10 Catholics – believe the church has adequately responded to allegations made against priests.

“In many ways, the church is faulted for not having followed up and done the right thing,” said Wright. “But it’s not a (top) priority for Catholics or for the religion itself.”

Other desired focuses included cleaning up alleged Vatican corruption (19 per cent overall, 16 per cent Catholics), winning back lapsed Catholics (five per cent overall, six per cent Catholics), and attracting new ones (four per cent overall, six per cent Catholics). The remainder cited other issues.

Though Pope Francis is a theological conservative, with staunchly orthodox views on sexual morality, he’s also renowned as a man of the people. A shoe-leather pastor, he ministered in the streets, commuted to work by bus, washed the feet of AIDS patients, and has been openly critical of priests who refuse to baptize babies born out of wedlock.

Wright, once a senior altar boy in the church, says the overall picture is one of tension between old and new.

“I remember as a young child, around seven, going to church when the mass was still spoken in Latin and the priest had his back to us,” recalled Wright. “Maybe in terms of modernizing – stepping off the altar and into the audience – the church itself invited a commonality that it now is dealing with … It’s the democratization of religion.”

The online poll of 1,412 Canadians – including 396 Roman Catholic – was conducted March 11 to 13. The results are weighted to reflect the general population and are considered accurate within three percentage points (within 5.6 percentage points for the Catholic-specific data).

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